Medicare Sting Leads To 107 Arrests, $452 Million In Fraudulent Payments
107 doctors, nurses and social workers in seven cities were charged with Medicare fraud on Wednesday as federal authorities led a huge crackdown against scammers who overcharged the taypayer-funded program by more than $452 million, marking the largest scam in Medicare history.
The sting comes at a time when the federal government estimates fraud is costing taxpayers $60 billion to $90 billion per year. The bust also marks a huge victory for the Obama administration who put a plan in place in 2009 to increase enforcement by allocating more money and staff to striking down fraud hot spots.
The massive Medicare arrests came as federal agents seized documents from various homes and offices in Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit, Chicago, Tampa, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La.
In the meantime 52 providers have had their payments suspended as government officials investigate exactly how far the fraud has spread.
Speaking at a news conference in Washington Kathleen Sebelius said of the program:
“When President Obama took office he asked Attorney General Holder and me to make fraud prevention a cabinet-level priority.”
While Eric Holder added:
“The results we are announcing today are at the heart of an administration-wide commitment to protecting American taxpayers from health care fraud. We are determined to bring to justice those who violate our laws and defraud the Medicare program for personal gain.”
The two biggest arrests came at two community mental health centers in Baton rouge where Hoor Naz Jafri and Roslyn Dogan allegedly recruited vulnerable patients and then charged excessive services to their Medicare accounts. Among those recruited were the elderly, drug addicts and mentally ill patients.
Hoor and Roslyn had their own company suspended in May 2011 for fraud but purchased another fraudulent company and continued to operate an illegal Medicare scam until their arrest.
[via CBSNews]
